The National tribune., 1887-02-03
AN OPEN LETTER.
10 Grorer Cleuolqnd, President Of the United
States:


legislation of that kind.
If it receive your signature it will become
an act Of National justice of higher merit
and farther-reaching in its benefcent effects
than any legislation which has gone upon
the statute books for long period Of
years. In so far as it viii take out Of the
poorhouses and restore TO their homes many
thousand broken-down Union soldiers who
are languishing there, to the scandal Of the
Government, il is matter of National de-
cency. In so Tar as it will repay to the men
who saved the Nations life some portion of
the pecuniary sacrifices they made for the
country, and in so far as ii goes toward car
rying out the promises Of the Government
to these men when they enlisted, it is
matter Of National honesty.
You are being told, with a view Of dissuad-
ing you from signing the bill, that it is
piece Of hasty and ill-considered legislation,
passed under pressure of an unworthy sort.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Not within this decade at least has there
been piece Of legislation the essential
features Of which have been considered so
exhaustively and adopted with so much de-
Liberation. None have been more thoroughly
discussed, both in and out of Congress.
Congress began the earnest consideration of
the matter at least four years ago. In one
shape or another the vital principle of the
bill-the bestowal Of a pension upon every
disabled and dependent soldier-has been
approved repeatedly by the Pension Com
mittees Of both Houses and by the Houses
themselves The main reason why bill
embOdying this principle was not presented
for your signature two years ago, and again
one year ago, was a failure of the Houses to
agree upon matters Of detail Decisive ma
jorities in each had more than once Endorsed
the justice and decency Of the central feature
of the measure.
To dispose Of any innuendOs as to the
motives Of those who formed those MAORI
ties, il is only necessary to refer you to the
ayes and noes The high standing of the
gentlemen-members of both parties-vot-
ing in the affirmative is a sufficient answer.
In addition to This the Grand Army of the
Republic an organization which in the
number and character of its members has
no equal in the world, and which is espe-
cially interested in the welfare of the cOun-
try, and Of the men who fought for its pres
ervation, has, through its National Pension
Committee and its National Encampments
repeatedly Endorsed the main principle Of
the bin, and through its agency hundreds
Of thousands of citizens signed petitions
10 previous Congress asking for the passage
of a similar measure.
As to the justice of the act and the elias,
whom-should it receive your Signature
will benefit, we need only to appeal to your
personal knowledge. You remember quite
as distinctly as anyone the young men o
4 gOl INV AOAh AOlAS WHO tSiAuQuAsutu
everything TO respond TO their country's CRY
of distress. We need not remind you VIVA
pleasant homes, what congenial occupations
what hopeful prospects they abandoned 70
the uninviting career Of private in tn
ranks in war time. Not few of these &C
quaintances Of yours who shouldered
musket had up TO that time maintaine,
themselves in the very front rank il
the race Of life and their future prospect
were regarded as exceptionally brilliant
When they came back four years later
those who did come back-quite a chang
had taken place in this respect They wer
no longer abreast Of their companions VIII
did not enter the army The four year
that they had spent in learning the dreadfg
art Of war, in acquiring the now uselei
trade Of the soldier, had been spent by the
stay-at-home acquaintance in perfectin
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